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Show 83 39-85. English summary: Generally, the elements of European culture, which have exercised a decisive influence in the New World since 1492, are studied and analyzed, and little thought is given to the fact that there has been an inverse process, as well, by which a determinate number of pre-Columbian cultural factors have been adopted by the so-called Western World. The author, at the request of the International Commission for a History of the Scientific and Cultural Development of Mankind, prepared this article assembling: a) the cultural elements, which coming from America, were spread throughout Europe beginning with the 16th century, although at times their influence may have occurred later; b) Pre-Columbian cultural elements which, while not exercising an influence in the Old World, have continued to be utilized in America, being assimilated by the European immigrants who in this way underwent a certain trans-culturation process; and c) some pre-Hispanic cultural traits which were also known and utilized in a more or less simultaneous form by other people of the earth and which must be considered as the results of a culture parallelism phenomenon, or perhaps of a diffusion previous to the 16th century, which there is no need to take up here. The specific cultural traits are divided into: Agriculture (cultivation techniques, fertilizers, medicinal and stimulant plants, industrial crops, food crops, domestic animals), Metallurgy, Utilization of paper, Calendar systems, knowledge and utilization of zero and its relative values, Religious beliefs, Literature and Philosophy. Finally, a bibliography is included which allows for further study of the information gathered here. Azevedo, Thales de, "Panorama Demografico dos Grupos Etnicos Na America Latina," America Indigena, XVII, No. 2 (April, 1957), pp. 121-139. English summary: The author of this work, in his capacity as chairman of the "Seminar of Studies concerning the Population of Latin America" which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in December, 1955, had occasion to amply discuss important demographic aspects of the various ethnic groups of Latin America. The following study is a result of these discussions in the Seminar as well as previous investigations. To begin with, there must be noted the necessity for finding a standard for differentiating the various ethnic groups of the countries of Latin America. Since the race concept is in reality without scientific value, the following classification, taking into account the somatic, social, economic and educational characteristics of each group, has been accepted as a framework: 1) the Indians; 2) the descendants of the African Negroes brought as slaves during the colonial period; 3) the descendants of the European colonizers, established as a result of the Conquest; 4) the Asiatic and European immigrants who have arrived since the beginning of the 19th century. Upon undertaking this study, statistical as well as of the cultural traits of each of said groups, only the representative of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Jamaica, Panama, Peru and Trinidad presented information. |